Where ‘West Meets East’: the cross-cultural discourses regarding the Chinese arts collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

This article presents a qualitative discourse analysis of the Chinese arts collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, largest art museum in the United States, and how the museum's promotional activities may potentially engender global cultural politics and entailing commercial debates regarding their Chinese relic collections. Although the museum has collected, restored, and exhibited foreign cultural heritage in its halls to promote social and cultural development, there may be potential risks when the museum hosts events and social activities in the midst of its collections. Therefore, this article interprets these issues through the conceptual lenses of cultural globalisation and cosmopolitanism within the cross-national context of museums. Overall, this article engages scholarly conversations regarding the paradoxical promotion activities by the museum from both the Chinese and American perspectives. This article calls on academics, journalists, and civil society to pay more attention to the museum's foreign cultural heritage and promotional activities.